He stated that the government’s promise to withdraw the case was now fulfilled.
“These cases take time as they have to meet the legal obligations. People have demanded for the case to be dropped and that has been met,” said Silva, while responding to queries from the press regarding the government’s decision in Margao on Saturday.
When trawler union leader Patrick D’Silva, one of the accused, was contacted, he stated that the government’s decision was good, but also a delayed one. He stated that due to the delay, one of the accused could not get a job and travel abroad for the last four years.
Patrick recalled that former chief minister Manohar Parrikar had made a similar promise to withdraw the case immediately. He stated that the accused are now hopeful that the same will be fulfilled and that they are holding discussions to decide their course of action.
Meanwhile, Adv Rajeev Gomes, who is representing most of the accused, said that it is likely that the accused will file the undertaking.
